Drill Pipe Oscillation Regime and Torque Controller for Slide Drilling

A drilling apparatus, comprising:

• a top drive controllable to rotate a drill string in a first rotational direction during a rotary drilling operation and to oscillate the drill string in the first rotational direction and an opposite second rotational directional during a slide drilling procedure according to a determined oscillation revolution amount to reduce friction of the drill string in a downhole bore of a wellbore;
• a sensor configured to detect a torsional wave traveling along the drill string produced in response to the oscillation of the drill string during the slide drilling procedure;
• and
• a controller configured to receive information representing the torsional wave from the sensor and, based on the received information from the sensor, modify the determined oscillation revolution amount to control toolface orientation of a bottom hole assembly on the drill string during the slide drilling.

A method for controlling toolface orientation, comprising:

• determining a first oscillation revolution amount determined based on one or more characterizations of a drill string in a wellbore during a slide drilling procedure;
• oscillating the drill string the first oscillation revolution amount to reduce friction of the drill string in the wellbore during the slide drilling procedure;
• detecting a torsional wave traveling along the drill string produced in response to the oscillating the drill string during the slide drilling procedure;
• and
• adjusting the first oscillation revolution amount based on the detected torsional wave to a second oscillation revolution amount different from the first oscillation revolution amount in a manner that controls toolface orientation of a bottom hole assembly on the drill string during the slide drilling procedure.